Do not know all the names but hope
that the others will be able to fill in the gaps. Fifth from the left is Ian Shand who invited Dad to go out for the
day, as far as I can recall the rest were all people who had flown
Spitfires either during or after the war. The photo's below of Jack
strapping in before the first take off and the other was a very low
pass at the end of the test flight, hope this is of interest, all
the best.

End

Thanks to John for sharing his photographs and memories with ORAFs.

Comments are welcome, please enter them below or mail them to ORAFs and they will be uploaded to this article

13 Comments:

Well Blow me down..Twas during my stay with A. I. S. Remember well the hassels I had in procuring batteries for the Spitfire..I remember New Sarum comming to a halt as everyone crowded the western fence and the roof of Station Headquarters to watch the Test Flight

As far as Identification of personel is concerned, as far as my addeled inverted memory goes I reckon the fellow on the extream left is Charles Paxton and next to him is Ernie De Govia (ex Air Force Sparkie) Then working for Afretair.

The article you published on the 6th contains one basic error and I think it should be address. John says that the first flight of SR 64 took place on the 28th March 1980 which was in fact a Friday. The test flight took place on Saturday the 29th March 1980 and coincidentally was the anniversary of Jack's first Military flight of 29th March 1943.. I was totally unaware of this fact until many years later and when we set up the test date Jack made no mention of the coincident. We could have flown a week earlier but de-laid the event to ensure every thing was in order.

Although we tried to keep the first flight date a low profile event news like that in the aviation business spread like wild fire and Jack being the man he was certainly informed all his old buddies about the event. Our DCA Inspector of the day Graham Pearce was fully informed of the test flight as we were all Licensed with the department and using dispensation from the Rh.A.F to clear the F700 and all pertinent documents. Affretair must have been the only company out side of the appointed servings companies, the like of Fields and Airwork Services using air force documentation. I had full signing rights on store items and all Spitfire related documents. Worked satisfied by Air Rhodesia was done via purchase orders.

The three photographs of SR 64 (PK 350). In the first photo Jack is sitting in the aircraft and was about to start up for his first flight post rebuild. The trolley acc positioned behind the wing was there to supply power to the starter. We modified the staring system to an electric motor for a couple of good reasons and to have power available to the starter introduced access in the Stbd side of the engine. Normal services electrical power was via a socket in the Port wing root fairing. In the second photo the Spitfire was doing a beat up along the taxiway and the group of people you can see standing Salisbury City side were the Affretair employees and ground handling crew. The Spitfire obtained a flight speed of ± 450 knots during that pass - not too dusty for an old bird! And the final photograph was taken of all the pilots who took part in the Spitfire ferry flights out from England. There are two sources to establish all the names one is Nick Meikle and the second is the Sunday Herald of the 29th March. Incidentally Jack is standing in the middle holding his flight notes.

Hi Dave...:) ...I am the little frenchie to whom you gave a chance to live a bit of this fabulous story close to you ...and to see and live things that are still unbelievable to commun people today. I feel very grateful and I want you to know that. Since awhile I tried to have your contact.So here is my contact:ph.martinsbaltar@gmail.com or +33(0)760 240 589Hope to get in touch soonAll my kinds and gratefull regards